WHAT WE DO
At Leslie James Acquisitions, we focus exclusively on arranging the acquisition of insurance business, comprising insurance brokers, PMI brokers, MGAs, Loss Adjusters and IFAs, throughout the UK, ranging from small, home operated “one man bands” to some of the largest independents.
Our clients look to sell for a variety of reasons including retirement or the desire to align with a more substantial broker. Most recently, of course, there are many who fear the long term effect of Coronavirus or the hardening market affecting the ability to make placements. Potential adverse changes in CGT rules are also often a factor.
There are various approaches our clients have to the process, including some wishing to sell their business and walk away, some looking to continue for a period with the acquirer and some looking to “take some money off the table” by selling a majority stake and retaining a minority with a view to that minority stake growing in value over a period of years, often to the extent of that minority stake becoming worth as much as the initial majority.
We deal with a very select range of serious, well-funded acquirers with whom we’ve built longstanding relationships. These are acquirers we know we can trust, acquirers who are highly experienced in the acquisition (and integration) process, acquirers who offer highly competitive valuations and who place real importance on the service provided to clients post acquisition.
HOW WE DO IT
From the point we take your instructions as a potential vendor all the way through to valuation, acceptance and ultimately, the completion of your sale, we work hand in hand with you to make the process as intelligible and smooth as possible.
In the first instance, we gather high level information from you, by way of a Fact Find and basic financial information, to create an informative presentation to potential acquirers.
Thereafter, with all information anonymised, we make approaches to a few, select acquirers, agreed with you in advance, whose appetite, geography and business models would appear to be the most synergous with your own. As a “broker”, we firmly believe that you should have choices rather than place all your eggs in one basket, hence the reason for us approaching a small number of potential acquirers rather than just one.
We can explain to you the basis of valuations – from income multiples to multiples of Adjusted Profit / EBITDA – but we must ultimately rely on acquirers themselves deciding on valuations, which will vary according to their view of the business.
When an acquirer expresses interest in principle, they are asked to sign a binding NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) and only at that point and again, only with your consent, the acquirer is provided with full information including your identity.
At that stage, we will be keen to arrange a direct discussion for you with the potential acquirer so that both parties can get a feel for each other and discuss valuation objectives as well as the type of arrangement sought by both vendor and acquirer.
Beyond the initial discussion and if both parties are happy to progress, more in-depth information will be sought to enable the acquirer to decide upon the most appropriate valuation and if a valuation/offer is accepted, the next step will be to formalise the agreement and enter into a process of due diligence.
We maintain close liaison with both you and acquirers throughout the entire process to ensure smooth communication, hopefully leading to a satisfactory outcome.